The Librano$ Again … This Time the Ontario “Family”

Every time anyone in Ontario buys a new tire they pay an additional $5.00 fee to fund The Ontario Tire Stewardship (OTS). The OTS was established, in 2009, by Premier Dalton McGuinty, as one of those arm’s length agencies that so many politicians love.

“At the Fairmont Château Laurier in Ottawa, $16,104 was spent for 13 board and staff members for a three-day stay for a board meeting of the Etobicoke-based agency in 2015;

At the Trius Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake, 10 of the agency’s directors and executives enjoyed a vineyard tour and a five-course tasting menu, with 10 bottles of wine, in the summer of 2014 ($2,023), plus accommodations at the Prince of Wales Hotel ($2,200); and

At Via Allegro in Etobicoke, two people enjoyed a $288 dinner where elk tenderloin, wild boar chops, cabernet sauvignon and Italian lager were served. Names of those in attendance were not listed.”

Glenn Maidment, chair of the OTS said, “All of those things, I think, were fair and reasonable.”

The Star report also says that:

“The stewardship spent $3,200 on a donation to the Liberal’s 2015 Summer Golf Classic “with special guests Hon. Kathleen Wynne & Members of the Ontario Liberal Caucus.” Maidment said the stewardship was “absolutely” justified in donating money to meet Wynne on the course and explain concerns about changes related to the program’s $49.6-million surplus;

An additional $1,000 donation was made to the Liberal’s May 2014 campaign fundraising event headlined by then Liberal environment minister Jim Bradley with “special guest” MPP Eric Hoskins. The event was hosted by Labatt Breweries at John Labatt Hall on Queens Quay shortly before the election; and

Credit card payments show $500 given to the New Democratic Party in 2013, billed through a telephone donation service. It’s unclear if any money was donated to the Ontario Progressive Conservatives.”

What is pretty clear is that the Librano$ are still here, in the Liberal Party machine:

The current stench of corruption emanates from Queen’s Park, but many of those same people who were there with Premiers McGuinty and Wynne are now in Prime Minister Trudeau’s PMO, and it is, after all, the same old Liberal Party … in Toronto and in Ottawa, too.